Scoutmaster Podcast 321

I'm Dwight Wiest, Scoutmaster with Troop 17 at Yakota Air Base, Japan. This edition of the Scoutmaster podcast is sponsored by backers like me.

And now for you, Scoutmaster. Over this past week, we've been reminded again and again of the tragic events that unfolded in Orlando, Florida, And I think it's worthy of taking just a moment to think about how this affects our Scouts and what we, as Scouters, can do.

I want to draw your attention to a post that I wrote a couple years ago, called Talking with Scouts about tragic events, And I'll have a link to it in the podcast notes. We understand that when tragedy unfolds, our Scouts know about it, They'll discuss it, They'll wonder what we think, And we can help them by doing three things: We can talk about it, We can help them gain some perspective and we can find constructive actions. And I repeat the advice of Fred Rogers, who said this: When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me: Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping To this day, especially in times of disaster.

I remember my mother's words And I'm always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers, so many caring people in the world. Scouters are good, caring people. When tragedy is like this unfold, it's easy to be cynical, It's easy to say that the whole world's going to hell in a handbasket, And it feels that way sometimes. But here's my antidote: I look at my Scouts. I see the promise in their lives And I know that Scouting will contribute to the kind of good people they'll become in the future, the helpers they'll become.

This is podcast number 321.. Welcome back to the Scoutmaster podcast. This is Clarke Green. Let's see here.

Oh, we have some messages in the mailbag- A five-star review of my book, The Scouting Journey, on Amazon by Rich Kubiak. Rich says that I know my stuff And it was a great read. Thanks, Rich. It's easy to get a copy of my books on Amazon. If you want a for real, honest to gosh book, You can also go to scoutmastercgcom. Sean Keeney is the Cubmaster of Pac-70 in Foxboro, Massachusetts.

Sean wrote in about my little quip about Schrodinger's Feast. He says the one problem is that, once tasted, the superposition of burnt and raw is supposed to be replaced with an ordinary state. But I have had more than one camp meal where, once tasted, the verdict is burnt and raw at the same time.

You know, Sean, the phenomenon does need more study And the research scouters at the Large, Bade and Collider at Condor State International Scout Center in Switzerland are doing a round of experiments that should tell us more soon. Oh, here's a quick question from Frank Maynard. Frank is the author of Bob White Blather And I'll have a link to his blog in the podcast notes. Definitely worth checking out, especially if you're working on the troop committee, Because Frank has a lot of troop committee experience.

He dropped me a line to ask: is the new Boy Scout Handbook, the new version of the Boy Scout Handbook, Available in an app like the old one? I did a little checking around right at around the time that the new version was published. I could not find a digital edition anywhere.

They didn't make it into an app like the old one And you know, to tell you the truth, the app that they made for the old one was kind of clunky anyway. But there is a digital version of the new handbook. I can give it kind of a lukewarm recommendation.

It's on something called inkling rather than just a PDF file or something simple, And every time I want to reference it I have to log in to this other thing And it's kind of a pain, But if you're looking for a digital edition of the Scout Handbook, that's the way you'll find it. You can find it at scoutstuffcom- Again, a link in the podcast notes on how to find that.

Hey, every week we get together with whoever can show up over at scoutmastercgcom And we have a chat session. We try and do a couple on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. It's pretty easy to join in. Keep an eye on my Facebook feed and my Twitter feed. I'll always announce when there's going to be a live chat session. Then come on over to scoutmastercgcom, sign in and let us know where you are and what you do for Scouts, like David Durflinger did this past week.

David is an assistant scoutmaster in Virginia and we had a lot of the frequent flyers. These are the folks that come and show up whenever we have a chat session, just about.

So it's a lot of fun. Scoutmastercgcom Facebook feed, Twitter feed. Watch for the chat announcement. Come and join us Tuesday, Wednesday mornings, most of the time.

Hey, if you're a regular reader and listener and what we have created here has helped you, I want to take a moment to ask you to return the favor. There's two things that you can do. You can support my work financially by making a one-time payment and become a scoutmastercgcom backer, Or you can make a subscription payment through something called Patreon and pledge $5 a more or a month.

Now there's special premiums available and anyone becomes a patron or a backer. Look for the backer and patron links in the podcast notes or go to scoutmastercgcom. Right at the top of the page over on the right-hand side, You'll see a link that says support and right near there you'll see a link that says be a patron. Check those out, figure out what will work for you this week, and I would like to personally thank Uchi Iquiba, the second who became a backer since last week's podcast, and Kara Kirtland, who has become a patron since last week's podcast. Really do appreciate. It keeps things up and running here.

So please take a little time this week to figure out what option works for you, and I'll be sure to thank you personally on next week's podcast. In this week's podcast I've got something to talk about at Scoutmaster Ship in seven minutes or less.

It might go a little over seven minutes, We'll find out though, right, But I hope you find it useful and let's get started, shall we?

Scoutmaster Ship in seven minutes or less. If you'll take a look at a map of Great Britain, all the way down in the southeast corner is a place called Pool and Pool Harbor. And one afternoon back in 1907 the captain, or the adult who was in charge of the pool company Boys Brigade, called three members of his brigade aside because he had received a very unusual request. He had been asked to choose three of his boys for a week-long camp nearby Brown Sea Island in Pool Harbor, with nobody less than General Robert Baden Powell.

So if you think about that for a moment, you know the Boys Brigade was an organization that existed before Baden Powell started the scouting movement and he was getting ready to test out some of his theories very practically in a camp on Brown Sea Island, which if you've been around scouting for a while, you recognize the place name right. And so these three boys, they're out there doing what Boys Brigade guys do, which was like a military drill. They're playing sports and things like that. And the captain of the brigade says: hey, had this invitation.

I think you three guys ought to go. The prospect of meeting General Baden Powell must have been extraordinarily exciting, because he was at the time a celebrated national hero- He was a superstar in Great Britain at the time- and not just getting to meet the man, but to go on a week-long camp with him out on this island. I mean, I know as a boy, if somebody had said to me we're gonna go camping, it's gonna be for a week, we're going out on this island.

What could be better, right? So those three boys joined 18 others on Brown Sea in the shelter of Pool Harbor. There, for scouting's first practical test camp. They slept under canvas for the first time in their lives, they played games and they practiced skills. And imagine sitting around a campfire with General Baden Powell- a national hero, and listen to him tell stories. And what I was thinking about, reflecting back on this, is what a moment that must have been.

Imagine those boys stepping onto the island, seeing the tents off in the distance, smelling the campfire smoke, looking into the faces of newfound friends, shaking the hand of General Robert Baden Powell, hearing the rain falling on a tent just above your head. I mean, can you get there with me?

Can you feel what that moment must have been like for those boys? Now? They had no way of knowing they were pioneering a movement for millions of young people around the world.

Several of those boys that were on Brown Sea Island in 1907 lived well into their old age to vividly recount their experiences decades and decades later. That moment- let's call it the Brown Sea Island moment of reverie and uncertainty and joy and maybe a little trepidation, Like when you look off in the distance you see a thunderstorm coming at you or you're up before the sun gets up and the dawn just begins to break over the trees. Just that moment is something that we get to see as scouters, over and over and over again in the lives of our scouts. I mean, the pathways of scouting have been around for a long time. They're worn by travel, but each new scout encounters a new and unexplored land. The same compelling moment happens for the young people we work with, just as it did for those boys over a century ago.

Do you know what I'm talking about? Have you seen it? Step back and watch. Watch for that Brown Sea Island moment. You can see it in your scouts. You can see the anticipation, the reverie, the excitement, And sometimes you can see them hold back a little bit, be a little bit afraid of what they've gotten themselves into.

And that's all good, But watch for that moment and make the best of it. It's such a wonderful opportunity, But before I go, let's pay attention to an equally important moment that preceded that Brown Sea Island moment.

So think about this: The parents of those first scouts had to stand there at the dock, put their boys on the boat, wish them well and watch that boat, leave the dock and head for the island. Now that must have been quite a moment too for those parents.

Can you imagine all the different things that they were thinking? They were proud that their sons had been selected, or going off with this august personage on a very exciting adventure. They were probably worried to a certain extent about how this would all go and whether or not the boys would do well.

And you know, I can also imagine maybe being a little resentful of that opportunity and saying: you know, when I was a kid I never had that chance. I mean, most of the people I'm talking to right now are parents, and you know what I'm talking about. There's a moment when you launch your child off into the world in one way or another, where there's a lot of things going on.

There aren't there, And so you have to ask yourself: when does your presence as a parent kind of cross the line from expressing support and lending stability to being maybe a little intrusive or being a little over-involved, When does rational concern for the well-being of your children turn into paranoia? And you know, hey, look, cut yourself a break, Don't worry too much about it. I understand Any parent's good intentions can go awry when our culture plays on our natural parental fears with this constant barrage of negative news that drives us towards extraordinary measures to keep our children physically and psychologically safe.

I think it's something that every parent worries about, and probably every parent that ever was worried about to some extent or another. But we don't want to obsess over those things because we miss the moment that creates the Brown Sea Island moment.

Do you see what I'm saying? If we're not willing to let go and to trust the opportunity and the processes that work, that Brown Sea Island moment can't really be created, can it? It's just something to think about.

I mean, our culture encourages us to get involved in our children's lives and we now have the technology to be in touch with them on a moment-to-moment basis, to recognize and curate every single moment of their lives. And the boundaries get a little blurry, don't they? I mean our ability to offer constant unsolicited comment, criticism and quote helpful unquote suggestions might be a little overwhelming.

And you know, if we're honest as parents, we'll admit that sometimes we try to fulfill our own longing's needs through our children. Our attempt to ring every last drop of significance from every moment can be a little selfish, And I've experienced that too, and I know how tempting it is to try and freeze our relationship with our children as it is now rather than accept that it is going to change. But it must change for them to grow, It must change for them to get to experience that Brown Sea Island moment.

Now, I'm not suggesting that your involvement as a parent with your child in Scouts is a negative influence, by no means. All I'm saying is is that, being aware that there are opportunities for that Brown Sea Island moment right, That are created by the previous moment They're at the dock, when you put them on the boat, You wish them well And you watch as they're off to that next adventure.

Your involvement is important, but so is the opportunity for your child to have that kind of experience. So watch for it, Watch for that opportunity, Make the best of it, And our Scouts will continue to have those wonderful Brown Sea Island moments.